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.“You told me to drive.Back there, you told me to get us out of the city.”“I guess,” he said.“You did.”“I just expected a bit more jerking around,” he said.She cut him another glance and saw the mock-innocent eyes now.“Are you flirting with me?” she asked.“Hell, no,” he shot back, finally looking away from her.He rested his feet on the dashboard, hunched up like a teenager.Miranda enjoyed the shift in atmosphere.Dan was arrogant but he had a lot to learn.She sighed, easing ahead of another car.The lights of the city were behind them and a calmness spread through her mind.No more of these extraordinary people with their unbearable, convoluted plots.She thought of Sully and her manager.She thought of the fans and the media.Everyone would be wondering where she was.“My dad taught me to drive stick,” Miranda said.Dan shifted his legs.He ran his hand through his hair and raised his eyebrows again.“I said, my dad taught me to drive stick.Back home,” she said again.“I thought you’d have a chauffer.”Idiot.She smiled, despite herself.“Seriously? I’m not that girl.”Dan smiled too.He shrugged.“My dad drove a truck,” Miranda said.“Okay? Deliveries and stuff.”“Fair call,” Dan said.“What’s that supposed to mean?”Dan shrugged again.“Can you stop shrugging?” she asked.“Seriously, can you not do that so much?”He sat up and picked off the GPS unit from the stolen car’s dash.Short flashes of blue light arced from the device and up along his fingers.Miranda watched them, like little flecks of lightning.They started bright but faded quickly as they vanished up his bare arms.She noticed his eyes were closed.After only a few bursts of electricity, Dan dropped the GPS over his shoulder where it clanged to the floor in the back.Useless.“Does it hurt?” she asked.She could tell he was about to shrug, but his body straightened and he took in a breath.She watched his chest lift.He seemed like he could go to sleep.Behind them, his grandfather was probably being helped out of the boot of a car, furious as Hell.“No,” he said.“Would it hurt me, if I touched you when you did that?”“You wanna try it?”Miranda shook her head.The traffic was thinning out.Beyond the lights of the highway, darkness swept across the land.The ocean was out there somewhere, and houses and farms, and normal people.“Would it?” she asked again.Dan let his hand slip to the gear stick.His bare skin lay warm against her own.It was a normal kind of touch and she surprised herself when she didn’t flinch.He strummed his fingers and she slipped her hand around his, squeezing it gently.“Thanks for saving me,” she said softly.A sound escaped his mouth, something like a half-laugh, but his breathing had slowed.He squeezed her hand back, but said nothing.Chapter 27DanThe sounds of the highway were well behind them, muffled by the rain and distant rumblings of thunder.Dan knew the storm would hit soon.He could feel the fury building across the bay behind him, hidden by the trees and the darkness of night.Ahead of him, Miranda held her shoes by her side as she walked barefoot towards the light of the house.Her pace hadn’t changed at all, despite the mud and uneven road surface.She hadn’t really said anything since leaving the car.Dan followed behind her.The house was his house.Once upon a time.Miranda stopped at the gate and looked around, pushing the strands of wet hair out of her eyes.Dan looked past her to the house.He could only see the one light on, the one in the laundry, but he knew she was home.The garden either side of the path was wild with herbs and discarded junk.He was embarrassed by the sprawl and hurried past Miranda, striding towards the door and hoping the whole night would hurry up and move on.He rapped on the security door.Eyes closed, he waited.How many times had he tried to get away from this place, he wondered.How many times had he dreamed of running away, of pretending to be someone else, living a normal life?Miranda stood behind him, off to the side, looking out to the paddocks which were eventually consumed by the night.She still clung to her shoes and every now and then she sniffed.“I’m sorry,” Dan said softly.The door opened with the sliding of bolts and clicking of locks.Dan stepped back, the porch light suddenly all around them.She was surprised to see him of course.It was 2am and his face was bruised and bloody, his clothes drenched with rain.A normal mother would have pulled him inside, full of questions and touching.But Theresa wasn’t a normal anything.Instead, she stayed hidden behind the security door, slightly back as if he would lunge at her or try to force himself inside.They both remembered years ago when he thundered his way out, while she grabbed at him to stay.Things had changed since then.“Mum, I need to stay for a while.”Her eyes showed the whites.Her fingers, blue and creased with age, wrapped around the edge of the frame, but she made no effort to open the security door.There was no sign of the Theresa from earlier in the week, no sign that she saw him as anything other than a threat.Dan wanted her to remember.He felt exhausted, felt desperate for her to shake off her cyclic manic-depression, to wake up from her medicated torpor.“I really need some help,” he said and sniffed.“Please?”He could feel himself losing control, the weight of the night crushing his throat so he couldn’t talk anymore.And the tears were coming too, even though he’d promised himself never to come back, never to ask for help from her again.Dan suddenly slammed his hands against the wire mesh of the door, shocking his mother back inside in a flurry of locks and muttered prayers.He whipped around and walked back to the path, his face down, not daring to look at Miranda.She followed him around the edge of the house through clumps of weeds and lavender and other plants that were wet and heavy.He came to a window and reached up, feeling the edges [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]